German Battlecruisers

Ship Craft produces a series of books created for modelers and enthusiasts of popular nautical subjects serving as a referencing guide to classes and types of ships as well as showing the many available models and accessories surrounding the kits. Seaforth Publishing brings us the 22nd edition in the Ship Craft series titled German Battlecruisers. Models for this edition of Ship Craft have been selected by Robert Brown, the History portions of the book are selected by Steve Backer and the plans and color artwork is by George Richardson.

German Battlecruisers is a 64 page, soft cover book presents on high quality, glossy A4 stock. The premise of this book highlights the German Battlecruisers from the First World War and combines history, model reviews, completed models and basic design of the ships.

Contents

The first two chapters of the book, Design and Careers, is a summarized history lesson about the different battlecruisers within the German Navy during WWI. The chapters are filled with period black and white photographs of the actual ships along with brief descriptions of the operation history behind them. In Chapter 3, Model Products, the authors layout passing reviews of the majority of all models of these battlecruisers covering the spectrum of scales from 1/1250 to 1/125 including plastic, resin and paper model kits. Towards the middle of the book, is the section titled Modelmaker’s Showcase. This section contains a variety of German Battlecruiser models as built by numerous contributors.

Leading into the next chapter, there is a two-page color profile look at Derfflinger and the Turkish Battlecruiser Yavuz. The Appearance chapter is a brief look focusing in on some key details surrounding many of the ships. The writings are supported with black and white photographs from the time period. The book finishes with seven single-page line drawings showing both profile and top-views to Blucher, Von der Tann, Seydlitz, Goeben, Yavuz, Derfflinger and Mackensen.

Conclusion

Robert Brown and Steve Backer have put together a fantastic little visual reference guide with Ship Craft’s 22Eedition, German Battlecruisers. The history sections of the book are not complex in technical data but make for interesting and informative reading. The review section, albeit brief except assessments of the kits, certainly lays out the full array of kits offered for these types of ships sold today. By and large, the individual modeler’s contributions to this publication is worth the price of admission. All of the models are fantastic representations of these battlecruisers and each modeler is extremely talented in their own right. German Battlecruisers is a well presented reference guide to its self-titled subject matter and would make a superb addition to anyone’s personal reference library…especially fans of these period German Battlecruisers from the First World War.

SUMMARY

Highs: Well written, well presented book focusing on German Battlecruisers of the First World WarLows: There could have been a little more content added to the reviews section, however there is a full listing of all of the products surrounding this subject matter to balance it out. Verdict: A fantastic condensed model referencing guide concentrated on 20th Century German Battlecruisers.

Our Thanks to Pen & Sword Books!This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

I am building what I like, when I like and how I like it; having fun doing it. I have been building and finishing models on and off my whole life but the past ten years things really exploded. Just about anything goes when it comes to hitting the bench, but wrecked armor, rusted hulks, ships or ...